Atoms to Zebras » Classical music http://www.atomstozebras.com Science Thoughts from Researchers Sun, 30 Nov 2008 17:22:42 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=abc en hourly 1 Concert at the L’Enfant Metro Station http://www.atomstozebras.com/2007/04/09/concert-at-the-lenfant-metro-station/ http://www.atomstozebras.com/2007/04/09/concert-at-the-lenfant-metro-station/#comments Tue, 10 Apr 2007 00:48:45 +0000 Tim Roth http://www.atomstozebras.com/2007/04/09/concert-at-the-lenfant-metro-station/ I want to share one of the most interesting articles I’ve read in a long time. The article had this question: how would Washington D.C. rush hour commuters react to a really good street performer? I mean, a really, really good performer like Joshua Bell, one of the world’s greatest violinists. Instead of playing in front of well-dressed classical music ticketholders, how would Bell do on a lesser-know music venue…how about the L’Enfant Plaza Metro Station?

One of things that grabbed me about this article was that I have a Joshua Bell album on my iPod and he’s amazing. It made me wonder if I would have taken time out of my commute to listen to him playing a multi-million dollar Stradivarius violin.

There is a interesting section on how the human mind values things in context, so there is some science in this article. However, that’s just one section: the whole article is fascinating.

Here’s the link to the article and some hidden camera video of the subway performance: “Pearls Before Breakfast” by Washington Post staff writer Gene Weingarten.

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Posted by Tim Roth, author of the political blog Think Anew and Act Anew

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